Cow-tail holder.



No. 690,236. Patented Dec. 3|, I901. C; W. COLWELL.

60W TAIL HOLDER.

(Aypplication filed Nov. 23, 1900.)

(No Model.)

a Her/"M 0,

QVil'ncnaca UN TED STATES CHARLES \V. COLWELL,

OF DELHI, NEW YORK.

COW-TAIL HOLDER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 690,236, dated December31, 1901.

Application filed November 23, 1900- Serial No. 37,509- (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES W. CoLWELL,

a citizen of the United States, residing at Delhi, in the county ofDelaware and State of New York, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Cow-Tail Holders; and I do hereby declare the followingto be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such aswill enable others skilled in the art to which itappertains to make anduse the same.

My invention relates to cow-tail holders; and it consists of tworesilient members constructed,preferably,of wire and which are pivotedto a'suitable rod by coiling the members around the same, so as to givea spring action to said members, so that when the device is operated toreceive the tailof an animal and then further operated to receive theleg of the animal the tail will be gripped by said movement, and byreleasing the fingers of the op-.

erator the tendency of the two members to assume a contracted conditionwill also grip the leg of the animal.

The object of my invention is the production of a cow-tail holder whichis very simple in construction and operation and cheap in its productionand which will not annoy the cow or interfere with the milking operationand which can be readily attached and detached.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of aportion of a cow, showing my improved holder applied to the tail. Fig. 2is a top plan view of the device. Fig. 3 is a perspective View of thesame.

1 in the drawings represents my improved cow-tail holder, whichconsists, preferably, of two hinged or pivoted resilient members 2 and3, respectively, which are constructed, preferably, of wire,each memberbeing formed, preferably, of a single piece of wire, each of which iscoiled around a rod 4, so as to give a spring action to the arms ormembers when the formembers into the position shown in Fig. 2 and thenbringing the rear ends 7 and 8 of the device together, as shown in Fig.3, the cows tail will be gripped between the forward portions 5 and 6 ofthe device, and by spreading the rear portions 7 and Ssufficiently toreceive the cows leg and then letting go with the hands the said rearportions 7 and 8 willgrip the cows leg, and the forward portions 5 and 6will at the same time be gripping the cows tail. The relative sizes ofthe portions 5 and 6 and the portions 7 and 8 of the device are made tocorrespond with the relative sizes or the thickness of a cows tail andher leg, so that when the device is applied to the tailand the portions7 and 8 are further spread to receive the cows leg the cows tail willnot be released by-the slight contraction of the portions 7 and 8 whenthe hands of the operator are removed.

The arms or members 2 and 3 are coiled around the rod 4, as at 9 9, thecoils of the member 3 coming inside of and abutting against the coils ofthe member 2. The coils are held in position by the rod 4 againstlateral movement in any suitable manner, one convenient means being ahead on the end of the rod or bolt and a nut on the other end thereof.This construction admits of the ready assembling of the parts and thedisassembling of the same. The member 3 is made slightly smaller inlength and width than the member 2, so as to conveniently 0perate withinthe same. As illustrated in the drawings, one of the long arms, as 8,may be given a hook shape at its outer end in order that it may soengage the cows leg as to prevent the holder from being accidentallypulled therefrom by the twitching of the tail. This structure makes itnecessary to spread the long jaws slightly before the holder can beremoved from the cows leg.

. I do not Wish to limit my invention to the exact construction shownand described, as the same might be slightly varied without departingfrom the spirit of my invention. I believe I am the first to construct acow-tail holder of two members pivoted together and so constructed andarranged that when the forward portion of the device is in engagementwith a cows tail and the rear portions of the member are spread to gripa cows leg and the hands of the operator are removed ICC the pivot eachway to form concaved jaws adapted to surround the leg or tail of a cow,a hook formed on the end of one jaw to engage the leg of the cow so thatthe holder cannot he accidentally pulled off the said leg, the membersbeing so arranged that the opening of one pair of jaws tends to closethe other -pair, substantially as described.

2. A cow-tail holder comprising a pivotpin, a pairof resilient members,each loosely coiled about the said pivot-pin, one of said members beingadapted to pass through the other and thereby form gripping-j aws ateach end of the said holder, one pair of jaws being capable of spreadingsufficiently to re ceive and grip bet-ween them a cows leg and the otherthe cows tail in such a manner that the spreading of one pair of jawsfor in-closing the leg will cause the gripping of the tail by the otherpair, substantially as described. In testimony whereof I hereunto afiixmy signature in presence of two witnesses.

CHARLES W. OOLWELL.

Witnesses:

JAMES S. More, CHAs. R. GEMMEL.

